Answering Machine
by SilverStarWing
Summary: One Shot- after Inuaysha breaks the friendship between him and Kagome, he calls her a year later only to get her answering machine and the message she left just for him.


Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in any way, shape, or form. I give all credit to the great Rumiko Takahashi.  
  
Authors Notes: This is a one-shot based around the song "Austin" by Blake Shelton. I wrote it all in the span of one morning. Enjoy ^^  
  
Answering Machine  
  
  
  
In a world where demons and humans live side-by-side, one temple priestess sat on her bed crying.   
  
In a world where demons and humans co-exists as friends, and sometimes, mates, a hanyou sat by this phone, not knowing if he should call or not.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome Higurashi whiped the tears from her face. She had cried enough in the last year. He wasn't worth her tears... yet... she couldn't stop them. What's wrong with me, then?   
  
Your in love, her subconcience told her.  
  
Kagome held back a snob. She couldn't be. She shouldn't be. He was a hanyou. She was a priestess. Sure, human and demons sometimes mated, but never a priestess and a demon. It just wasn't heard of.   
  
But he isn't full demon, her subconscience told her. He's a hanyou. Part human, too.   
  
"I know that!" Kagome cried out. "Why? Why did this have to happen? We were friends... and then... and then... he had to go and do that."  
  
"Kagome?" A knock on the door.  
  
Kagome quickly rubbed the tears out of her eyes. She stood to address the person at her bedroom door. "Hai. Come in, Mama."  
  
Ms. Higurashi cracked the door open. She gasped when she saw her daughter. Kagome was dressed in the traditional miko robes of red and white. Her hair was pulled loosly back into a pony-tail. She stood tall and elegant in her new robes.   
  
"You look beautiful, Kagome," Ms. Higurashi stated.  
  
Kagome blushed. "Thank you, Mama. I just wish Inuyasha could see me now."  
  
Ms. Higurashi nodded. "I sure he would want to." She smiled sadly. "I miss him, too, Kagome."  
  
"Oh, Mama!" Kagome cried. She rushed into her mother's arms and began to cry. "It isn't fair. Why did he do this?"  
  
"He needs time to think, too. I'm sure someday he'll be back."  
  
Kagome could only cry as she remembered the events of yesturday.  
  
~*~  
  
  
  
"Your what!?" Inuyasha shouted at the girl in front of him.  
  
Kagome nodded with a frown. "I became a full pledge priestess tomorrow. You'll come to the ceromony, won't you?"  
  
"Why the hell would I do that!?" He paused. "Why the hell would YOU do that!?"  
  
"Do what!?"  
  
"Become a Miko, that's what! Miko's and demons don't match, Kagome!"  
  
"You think I don't know that!?" She was starting to raise her voice. "But what choose do I have? You've known all along that I would eventually take over grandpa's shrine. So don't give me any guff about it."  
  
"But why now?"  
  
"Because he's ill, Inuyasha. Because its my duty as heir to the shrine. You should know all about duty. Your the second son of the Lord of the Western Lands!"   
  
"What does that have to do with anything? At least I'm not becoming a miko!"  
  
"What does me becoming a priestess have to do with anything? We can still be friends."  
  
"Demons are never friends with Miko's," he sneered. "You'll purify us." A snarl. "I can't believe this. I can't believe your actually going through with this!"  
  
"Inuaysha! What choice do I have!? Don't make me choose between you and my grandpa. Please?"  
  
"I never said you had to," he sighed. He lowered his head. "I just aways thought you and me...  
  
...  
  
... never mind."   
  
"Inuaysha?"  
  
"I'm not going to let you choose between me and your gramps. I already made the descion for you." Her eyes widened. "Go become the stupid miko you want to be. I'm not going to stop you. But just to let you know," he sneered, "that if you try to purify any of my clan, I won't hesitate to take my revenge. So just watch your back, Miko."  
  
"Inuyasha..." she gasped. "No..."  
  
"Good riddens, anyway. Humans and demons don't match. The result is what I am." He growled. "And that itself is pitiful." He turned to walk away.  
  
"Inuaysha!" Kagome reached out her hand and grabbed his shoulder. He glanced at her. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Keh." Then he took off. In one leap he was atop of the buildings running away from her. Running away from them. Running away from love.  
  
~*~  
  
~*~  
  
One year later the hanyou Inuyasha sat by his phone. In his hand was a picture of his old friend Kagome.  
  
Keh. Who am I kidding? She was more then just a friend... I was... in love with her.   
  
Inuyasha winced, rememering all he had said to her that day. He shouldn't have said what he did. He was in the wrong. While Kagome had moved on and become the Miko she wanted to be, earning her shrine number one in Tokyo, Inuyasha had sat around the past year pouting, not wanting to give in to this shame.   
  
I should just call her. But what will I say to her? Hey, It's been a year, and I know I really screwed up, can we still be friends?   
  
"Keh. She would hang up on me. I'm sure she wants nothing to do with me anymore." Inuyasha sighed, looking at the picture. It was the one he had taken last year at the Autumn Festivial. She was dressed in a light pink komono with red edges. On the komono were small white and violet flowers. The hair on the top of her head was pulled back into a small tail while the rest of her hair hung in waves down her back. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were filled with so much emotion.   
  
Love? he wondered.   
  
He glanced at the phone. He knew he should. He WAS sorry. He missed her. He loved her.   
  
"I still love her..." he sighed.   
  
He reached for the phone. After gathering his nerves, he dialed the all too familar number.   
  
The phone rang. And rang. And rang.   
  
After a click, the answering maching came on. Inuyasha let his breath go. He didn't even realize he was holding it.   
  
"If your calling about the shrine, I'm here everyday from 8-5, except for Monday's, I'm at the temple praying. If your trying to sell something, your waisting your time, because we aren't buying. If its anyone else, please wait for the beep, you know what to do. Oh, and P.S. If this is Inuyasha, please know, I love you."  
  
Inuyasha dropped the phone. He was stunned.   
  
What did she just say? His thoughts went blank for a second. She sounded... scincere.   
  
Inuyasha felt more guilt add to his soul. What was he going to do?  
  
~*~  
  
Three days later, Inuyasha sat by the phone again. He had three days to think about what he was going to say to her. And now he was ready. Or at least he hoped he was.   
  
He picked up the phone and dialed the number. It rang. And rang. And rang.   
  
After a click, the answering maching came on. Inuyasha once again let the breath he didn't know he was holding, go.  
  
"If its Friday night I'm out with my family, and first thing in the morning, if the sun shines bright, I will be out tending to the needy. I should be gone all weekend long. But as soon as I get back, on Sunday afternoon, I'll give you a ring. Oh, and P.S. If this is Inuyasha, please know, I love you."  
  
The machine beeped, waiting for Inuyasha's message. His mouth went dry. His mind went blank. "I'm sorry, Kagome," he said scincerly. Then he hung up.  
  
~*~  
  
That night, Kagome sat on her couch. She hadn't been feeling to well, so she told the rest of her family to go a head and go get dinner. She would be fine by herself. So she sat on the couch and watched a movie, eating popcorn.   
  
Then the phone rang. She was too comfortable to get up and answer it, so she just let the machine get it.   
  
She heard her message. "If its Friday night I'm out with my family, and first thing in the morning, if the sun shines bright, I will be out tending to the needy. I should be gone all weekend long. But as soon as I get back, on Sunday afternoon, I'll give you a ring. Oh, and P.S. If this is Inuyasha, please know, I love you."  
  
Kagome sighed. She knew it wasn't going to be him. It never was. It was never going to be.   
  
She turned the volume on the TV down to hear the person on the other line.   
  
At first there was just a pause, then after a few seconds, a voice came on the line.   
  
"I'm sorry, Kagome."  
  
Click. He hung up.  
  
Kagome's heart skipped a beat.   
  
It couldn't be, could it? She switched the TV off and made her way across the room to the answering machine. Her hand reached out and hit the play button.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kagome."  
  
Stop.  
  
Play.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kagome."  
  
Stop.  
  
A pause.   
  
Play.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kagome."  
  
Tears started to swell in her eyes. It was him! It was Inuyasha!  
  
She played it over and over again many more times, her tears flowing freely. He had apologized. After a whole year.   
  
~*~  
  
It was now Sunday afternoon. Kagome, dressed in her priestess robes, made her way up the shine steps. She had had a long weekend, what with Inuyasha's call and helping the sick for the past two days. She needed rest.   
  
As usual, she stopped at the Goshinboku on her way to the house. Her tilted her head and prayed to the God Tree. "Please, help me get through this. Give me strength." She sighed. "I don't know what I should do. I'm confused. I fell in love with him a year ago, and I still love him, even to this day, even after what he did to me. I know demons and miko's don't mix. So what should I do?" She paused, silent in her own thoughts. "Help me to find the answer."  
  
As she finished praying, a shadow loomed over her. She gasped and turned around to see who had snuck up on her.  
  
"Kagome," he said. His eyes were starring directly into hers. His ears were dropped a little, almost as if in shame. He stood straight, his hands covered in the sleeves of his fire rat.   
  
"Inuyasha!" she gasped upon seeing him.   
  
He lowered his eyes. "I know I don't deserve to talk to you. But I just wanted to applogize..."  
  
"I know." He looked up at her surprised. "I got your message."   
  
He nodded. "I was scared..." he said, lowering his voice, "of loosing you, if you became a Miko. I never really meant..."  
  
"I know." A very small smile played on her lips. "That's why every day since that day, I left the P.S. on the machine, in hopes that maybe someday, you'd call when I didn't answer."  
  
"Did you mean it...?"  
  
Kagome nodded, tears starting to form. "Yah. I knew it that day. After our fight."  
  
"Kagome..." he could smell the tears. He took two steps forward to close the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so sorry, Kagome." He rested his cheek on top of her head.   
  
Kagome could only nod and continue to cry into his chest.  
  
"I love you, Kagome. I didn't know it back then, but I know it now. And I think the reason I sad all that was because I was afriad to loose you to your new profession."  
  
Kagome hugged Inuyasha as tight as she could. Her tears were slowly coming to a stop. She pulled away slightly. "Oh, Inuyasha. You have no idea how long I've waited."  
  
"Yah, I do. Cause I waited, too." And with that, he tilted his head and kissed her.   
  
Demon and Miko together forever. 


End file.
